THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

ENDOWED  BY 

JOHN  SPRUNT  HILL 

CLASS  OF  1889 


C378 

UK3 

1866V 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00039136648 


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rrr     i«.  J&u 


THE  dutip:s  of  defeat,     i 


^N    ^vnDlDT^ESS 


DEIJVERED    BEFORE    THE 


& 


I© 


t^in'ERSlTV  OF  \OIITII  (lAIiOlIIl, 


June  7th,  1866, 


EX-GOV.  ZP:BUL0]S^  BAIRD  VANCE. 


'P 


» 


RALEIGH: 
W  1 1.  T.  I  A  M    B  .    SMITH    &    C;  O  M  P  A  N  Y 


^ 


K^l^ff'C^ 


THE  DUTIES  OF  DEFEAT. 


AN     ADDRESS 


DELIVERED   BEFORE   THE 


Cto0  Siterarg  ^0cutte$ 


^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 

June  7th,  1866, 

BY 

X-GOV.  ZEBULO^^  BAIRD  VANCE. 


RALEIGH: 

WILLIAM    B.    SMITH    &    COMPANTY, 

1866. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  XORTH  CAROLINA,  | 
Dialectic  Hall,  June  8,  1866.      \ 
Hon.  Z.  B.  Vance; 

Dear  Sir — In  behalf  of  the  Dialectic  Society,  the 
undersigned  have  been  instructed  to  request  for  publication  a  cojiy  of 
the  speech  delivered  by  you  on  the  7th  instant,  before  the  Literar v  .So- 
cieties of  the  University  of  North  Carolina. 

They  are  influenced  by  the  desire  to  make  public  the  wise  and  states- 
manlike views  it  contains  concerning-  the  relations  of  the  Southern  peo- 
ple and  the  duties  in  consequence  incumbent  upon  them. 

In  making  this  request  they  believe  they  have  the  concurrence  of  all 
"who  heard  it. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  rcspecttuUy,  &c., 

T.  M.  ARGO,  ) 

A.  PHILLIPS,        V      ConuHittce. 


G.  W.  GRAHAM 


,s 


Charlotte,  N.  C.,  June  10,  1866. 
Gentlemen : — Your  note  has  been  received,  in  whitli  you  request  a  copy 
of  the  speech  recently  delivered  by  me  before  the  two  Societies  of  the 
University,  for  publication. 

The  time  allowed  me  for  its  jireparation,  after  the  acceptance  of  your 
invitation,  was  so  limited  that  I  feel  unwilling  to  have  it  published.— 
Bnt  deferring  to  your  complimentary  opinion,  I  cannot  refuse  to  comply 
with  your  request.  'I'he  manuscript  is  therefore  placed  at  your  disposal. 
Thanking  you,  and  those  whom  you  represent,  most  sincerely  for  the 
konor  you  have  done  me, 

I  aiu,  gentlemen, 

Very  trulj^  yours, 


To  Messrs.  T.  M.  Ar<;;o,        ^ 

A.  Pun,i,i'is,         ■      Committee. 
G.  W.  Graham,  \ 


Z.  B.  VANCE. 


THE  DUTIES  OF  DEFEAT. 


Geidl.<t)n'n  of  the  Dialectic  and  Philanthropie  Soeieties: 

As  the  traveller,  who,  during  his  absence,  has  learned 
that  a  great  fire  has  swept  over  his  native  city,  welcomes  with 
the  keenest  rapture  the  first  glance  of  his  own  home,  which  he 
trembles  at  the  thought  of  finding  in  the  ashes  of  the  general 
ruin,  so  should  we  rejoice,  to  behold  our  honored  University 
■surviving  the  wreck  of  so  much  that  we  loved  and  revered. — 
Though  staggering  under  the  blows  of  adversity,  I  am  most 
happy  to  see  for  myself,  this  day,  so  goodly  a  display  of  her 
ancient  life  and  energy.  May  she  soon  attain  to  that  full 
measure  of  prosperity  and  usefulness,  which  has  heretofore  ren- 
dered her  the  pride  and  chiefest  ornament  of  North  Carolina ! 

Since  the  first  keel  of  an  European  vessel  grated  upon  the 
7<ands  of  the  new  worbJ,  and  the  first  axe  was  lifted  against  the 
vast  f(.>re>it  which  covered  it  a^  with  a  crown  of  glory,  the  lines 
could  not  have  fallen  to  the  educated  young  men  of  our  State 
in  a  more  interesting  or  important  era.  We  stand  to-day 
amidst  the  stranded  fragments  and  floating  timbers  of  the  great- 
cat  civil  war  in  history.  Astounded  at  the  mighty  results  we 
are  as  yet  unable  to  comprehend  them.  Indeed,  the  profound 
significance  of  their  full  philosophical  import,  can  scarcely  be 
gathered  by  this  generation.  For  we  are  not  yet  at  the  end  of 
the  Revolution  as  is  popularly  supposed,  but  are  only,  as  we 
trust,  at  the  end  of  armed  violence.  The  changes,  which  con- 
stituted the  real  objects  of  the  Revolution,  began  with  us,  only 
"ivhen  the  last  Confederate  soldier,  by  laying  down  his  arm,s, 
removed  that  last  obstacle  to  their  approach. 

Revolutions  are  not  now  what  they  were.  They  partake  in 
the  manner  of  their  accomplishment  of  the  spirit  of  the  age  ; 
^nd  are  hurried  forward  by  the  same  impulses  of  science  and 
discovery  which  have  so  accelerated  the  material  affairs  of  the 
world.  How  suddenly  all  of  ouj-  well  settled  theories  in  regard 
to  the  relative  powers  and  duties  of  the  Str.tes  and  the  Federal 
Government,  have  been  overthrown,  and  the  whole  sj^stera 
ehanged,  it  is   astonishing  to  coutomplate.     The  almost    imme- 


AS    ADDKKSS. 


diate  emancipatiju  of  three  million  five  hundred  thousand  slaves^, 
without  one  moment's  preparation,  of  either  themselves  or  their 
masters,  for  the  great  change,  is  equally  unprecedented,  and 
brings  us  with  breathless  haste,  face  to  face,  with  some  of  the 
most  startling  and  dangerous  questions  of  the  age.  But  when 
we  remember  some  of  the  chief  strides  of  physical  science  in  the 
past  few  years,  our  wonder  will  diminish.  It  was  but  thirty-six 
years  ago  that  the  first  railroad  was  built,  and  the  first  steam, 
engine  mounted  upon  his  iron  track.  Already  there  are  in  exis- 
tence fifty-six  thousand  miles,  threading  and  permeating  the  civ- 
ilized world  ;  more  than,  enough,  if  stretched  out  in  straight  and 
parallel  lines,  to   bind  an    iron   girdle    twice  around  the    solid 

framework  of  the  globe  !   1'hat  narrow  highway  of  the  lightning 

now  become  the  guide  and  friend  of  the  engine, — if  stretched  by 
its  side,  would  enable  one  to  hurl  his  words  around  the  entire  earthy 
returning  to  him  who  spoke  them  almost  ere  they  had  sounded 
upon  his  own  ear  !  Ey  these  and  sirailar*wondrous  agencies, 
during  the  recent  war,  two  stupendous  cf>Tpi*  d'armee,  who  were 
facing  each  other  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  would  steal  in 
their  picket  lines  under  cover  of  darkness,  and, rrnshing  awaj 
with  all  their  trains  and  animals,  and  munitions  of  w-ar,  would, 
within  a  few  short  hours,  be  iiurled  against  eacii  other  again 
fti  deadly  strife  on  some  distant  field,  half  across  the  conti- 
nent !  Change,  therefore,  not  onlycometli  upon  us,  bur  cometh 
with  speed  and  with  power. 

Perhaps  in  modern  annals  there  will  scarcely  be  found  a:  par- 
allel to  the  complete  ruin.and"  impoverishment  of  the  people  of 
the  Southern  States.  Absolute  annihilation  of  a  great  coranlu- 
nity  by  armed  violence  is  deemed  scarcely  possible  Jn  modern 
times,  though  instances  are  not  wanting  among  the  ancients,, 
before  a  humane  code  of  international  law  had  interposed  to 
protect  the  weak  against  the  strong,  and  mitigate  the  horror.* 
of  war.  The  most  wonderfulexample  was  that  of  Carthage. — 
Though  her  walls  were  '.  twenty-seven  miles  in  circumference, 
and  she  could  keep  five  liundred  elephants  for  the  public  amuse- 
ments ;  thouglvshc  could  send:  tliree  hundred  thousand  soldiers 
to  the  invasion  of  Greece,  while  Rome  was  engaged  in  a  death 
struggle  with  a  petty  town  only  twelve  miles  distant  from  her  walk; 
though  tlve  waters  of  every  sea  were  white  with  her  sails  and 
the  slioros  of  every  known  land  were  visited  by    lier  mercliantf?, 


THE  D0TIE3   OF   DKF^AT. 


or  planted  with  her  colonies;  yet  the  iron  hand  of  her  rival 
smote  her  so  utterly  into  the  dust  tliat  there  is  not  a  vestigr  left! 
Not  a  monument  is  standing ;  no  literature,  do  relic  of  her 
laws,  her  language  or  her  blood  remains.  The  very  site  of  this 
great  city  is  of  the  doubtful  knowledge  of  the  antiquary.  Such 
barbarous  inflictions  of  a  barbarous  age  we  have  indeed  escaped, 
but  changes  greater  than  the  dreams  of  the  wildest,  and  ruin, 
social  and  political,  fearfully  deep,  has  been  our  hapless  lot. — 
A  glance  at  these  things,  for  the  purpose  of  attempting  to  de- 
duce the  outline  of  the  changed  duties  which  devolve  upon  us, 
will  suffice  to-day. 

What  with  the  value  of  our  slaves,  tlieinjury  inflicted  upon  real 
property,  the  destruction  of  personal,  the  depreciation  or  annihi- 
lation of  all  manner  of  stocks  and  securities,  together  with  the 
sums  expended  in  the  maintenance  of  the  war,  make  our  ma- 
terial losses  alone,  all  told,  in  the  estimation  of  the  most  prudent, 
equal  to  live  thousand  million  dollars  !  And  of  that  highest 
and  noblest  property  of  a  State — her  citizens — full  two  hun- 
drwi  and  fifty  thousand  of  our  bravest  and  best  have  perished 
by  the  casualties  of  war  alone  !  The  filling  up  of  this  fearful 
outline,  with  the  revolting  minutia^  of  indivi<^al  nfuffering,  or 
the  estimation  of  the  moral  losses  we  have  incurred,  is  a  (ask  I 
have  ntiitlier  heart  nor  time  for  attempting.  The  whole  scene 
raiainds  one  of  the  portraiture  of  Homo,  tlrawn  by  one  of  the 
panegyrists,  when  addressing  the  Empei*or  Theodosius : — 
"Thou,  Rome,  that  having  once  suffered  by  the  madnesf^  of  Cin- 
na,  and  of  the  cruel  Marius  raging  from  banishment,  and  of 
Sylla  that  won  his  wreath  of  prosperity  from  thy  disasters,  and 
of  Caesar  compassionate  to  the  dead,  didst  shudder  at  every 
blast  of  the  trumpet  filled  by  the  breath  o^  civil  commotion. — 
Thou,  that  beside  the  wreck  of  thy  soldiery  perishing  on  <Mther 
side,  didst  bewail  amongst  thy  spectacles  of  domestic  woe.  the 
luminaries  of  thy  Senate  extinguished,  the  heads  of  thy  consuls 
fixed  upon  a  halberd,  weeping  for  ages  over  thy  slaughtered 
Catos,  thy  headless  Ciceros  and  unburied  l*ompeys ; — to  whom 
the  party  madness  of  thy  own  children  had  wrought  in  every 
age  heavier  woe  than  the  Carthaginians  thundering  at  thy 
gates,  or  the  Gaul  admitted  within  thy  walls  ;  on  whom  Ema- 
tbia  more  fatal  than  the  day  of  Allia — Ccllina  more  dismal  than 
Cannae — had  inflicted  such   deep    memorials    of  wuund?^   thit. 


AN    ADDKESft. 


from  bitter  experience  of  thy  own  valor  no  enemy  was  to  thee 
80  formidable  as  thyself,"  Would  that,  with  the  spirit  of  proph- 
ecy, I  could  add  the  remainder  of  the  quotation:  "Now 
■first  in  thy  long  annals,  thou  didst  rest  from  a  civil  war  in  such 
a  peace,  that  righteously  and  with  maternal  tenderness,  thou 
mightest  claim  for  it  the  honors  of  a  civic  triumph !  " 

Upon  our  own  beloved  State  a  full  share  of  these  common 
calamities  has  fallen.  Nor  does  it  relieve  them  of  their  crushing 
weight  to  remember  the  deep  hostility  of  her  people  to  the  pol- 
icy which  inaugurated  them.  Quiet,  conservative,  law-abiding, 
as  her  people  have  ever  been, — though  jealous  of  their  rights 
and  honor,  and  ready  at  any  moment  to  perish  for  them, — yet 
«low'  to  violate  compacts,  they  have  never  ceased  to  prefer  ex-. 
hausting  all  civil  remedies  for  the  redress  of  public  grievances 
rather  than  evoke  the  terrible  and  uncertain  arbitrament  of 
revolution.  Steady  in  the  exercise  of  this  resolution,  she  was 
forced,  tlic  very  last,  into  a  conflict  which  she  was  the  very 
first  in  maintaining.  The  sidlerings  of  our  people  have,  indeed, 
been  fearfully  commensurate  with  their  honesty  and  their  cour* 
age.  With  her  homesteads  burned  to  ashes,  with  fields  deso- 
lated, with  thousands  of  her  noblest  and  bravest  children  sleep- 
ing in  beds  of  slaughter ;  innumerable  orphans,  widows,  and 
helpless  persons,  reduced  to  beggary  and  deprived  of  their  na- 
tural protectors  ;  her  corporations  bankrupt  and  her  own  credit 
gone ;  her  public  charities  overthrown,  her  educational  fund  ut- 
terly lost,  her  land  filled  from  end  to  end  with  her  maimed  and 
mutilated  soldiers ;  denied  all  representation  in  the  public  coun- 
cils, her  heart-broken  and  wretched  people  are  not  only  oppres- 
sed with  the  weight  of  their  own  indebtedness,  but  are  crushed 
into  the  very  dust  by  taxation  for  the  mighty  debt  incurred  as 
the  cost  of  their  own  subjugation  I  The  very  race  of  beasts  of 
burthen, — by  which  alone  we  could  extort  bread  from  the  half- 
tilled  earth, — was,  at  the  close  of  hostilities,  almost  destroyed ; 
leaving  us  destitute  of  even  the  means  of  labor  !  Such  a  pic- . 
ture  of  Huftering  would  seem  sufficient  to  sate  a  generous  enemy, 
and  should  move  the  deepest  depths  in  the  bosoms  of  her  loving 
sons.  Truly  might  they,  as  during  the  ever  memorable  year 
18G5  they  beheld  "  all  this  wealth  and  glory  turnd  to  dust  and 
tears."  have  fancied  that  they  could  hear 

'•  A  cry  of  nations  o'er  her  sunken  halls. 


THE    DUTIES   OF   DEFEAT.  » 

A  loud  lament  along  the  sweeping  sea." 
It. was  enough  to  cause  her  despairing  children  to  re-echo  the 
plaintive  wail  of  the  poet  over  fallen  Venice  : 

"  There  is  no  hope  for  nations.     Search  the  page 
Of  many  thousand  years, — the  daily  scene, 
The  flood  and  ebb  of  each  recurring  age, 
The  everlasting  to  ie  which  fuith  been, 
Hath  taught  us  naught  or  little, — still  we  lean 
On  things  that  rot  beneath  our  weight,  and  wear 
Our  strength  away  ia  wrestling  with  the  air." 
There  was  indeed  a  cry   and  a  lament,  through  all  her  bor- 
ders;    From  her  Alpine  heights  to  her  tidal  sands,  from  her 
plains  and  valleys  and  all  her  habitations,  the  wail  went  up. 
Th6  dismal  cypress,  garlanded  with  funereal  moss,  became  fit 
emblem  of  her  woe  ;  and  her  sombre  pines,  moaning  in  the  breeze, 
sang  requiems  solemn,   as  for  the  dead.     And  though    nature 
was  still  kindly,  and  invited  us  to  forget  our  sorrow  ;  though 
the  sun  still  warmed  and  cherished  the  earth  ;  though  the  early 
and    the  latter  rains    still  descended  according  to  the  Promise, 
clothing  the  fields  with  verdure,  and  causing  the  tender  herb  to 
put  forth  ;  and  though  the  mocking  bird — sweetest  of  our  war- 
blers—embowered within  the  shadows  of  his  leafy  home,  poured 
forth'his  glorious  song,  "every  note  that   we  loved  awaking," 
yet  hi)  joyous  response  stirred  our  bosoms.     It  seemed,    indeed, 
that  despair  had  claimed  us  for  her  own.      We  felt  that  it  was 
demanded  of  us  to  sing  a  song  in  a  strange  land,  and  we  could 
but  hang  our  harps  upon  the  willows  of  our  own  native  rivers — 
famous  now  with  the  rich  memories   of  our   children's  blood — 
and  weep  when  we  remembered  the  pleasant  places  from  which 
we  had  fallen.     It  was  in  truth  a  prospect  to  appal  the  stoutest 
heartWd ;  and  many  of  our  aged  and  infirm,  who  had  bravely 
borne  all  the  suflFerings  of  a  four  years  war,  have  sunk  down  like 
the  oak  which,  having  withstood  the  storm,  yet  falls  in  the  ensu- 
ing iealm,  and  died,  "  rejoicing  exceedingly  and  being  glad  that 
they  could  find  the  grave." 

Such  are  the  changes  through  which  we  have  passed  and  are 
Still  passing.  Such  is  the  condition,  physical  and  social,  of 
your  country  at  the  moment  when  you  are  to  enter  upon  the 
earnest  duties  of  life.  You  will  probably  agree  with  me  ia 
thinking  that  the  time  is  an  important  one,  and  that  the  duties 
before  young  men  of  education  and  patriotism  diifer  widely  from^ 
and  far  exceed  in  weighty  responsibility,  those  wliich  have  de- 
volved on  any  of  your  predecessors. 


10  AN   ADDRESS. 

It  "will  not  be  improper  to  glance  at  some  of  the  peQuliar  fields 
■where  your  energies,  as  well  as  your  kindly  charities,  may  bo 
most  beneficially  expended.  The  task  of  uplifting  and  regene- 
rating our  fallen  country,  indeed,  belongs  to  us  all ;  but  it  will 
devolve  more  especially  upon  you.  Neither  spent,  nor  broken 
down,  by  the  fierce  conflicts  and  deadly  disappointments  of  the 
past,  your  fresh  spirits  are  not  only  endowed  with  the  vigor  ne- 
cessary to  successful  action,  but  they  can  more  easily  bend  to 
the  Procrustean  bed  of  circumstances,  which  is  spread  for  the 
repose  of  a  conquered  people, — wherein  lies,  now,  and  at  all 
times,  the  true  secret  of  statesmanship. 

The  work  is  not  near  so  hopeless  as  it  would  seem  at  first,  and 
it  is  noble  and  glorious  beyond  anything  that  ever  fired  the  am- 
bition of  youth.  Though  the  destruction  is  so  wide-spread  and 
thorough,  it  should  be  remembered  that  there  is  nothing  which 
can  exceed  the  recuperative  powers  of  nature  when  aided  by  the 
industry  of  man.  These  gaping  wounds  in  our  country's  bosom 
are  to  be  healed,  these  enormous  losses  of  our  wealth  are  to  be 
repaired,  these  wasted  fields  are  to  be  restored  to  the  glorious 
verdure  of  peaceful  abundance — from  the  ashes  of  the  homes 
which  once  sheltered  us  must  arise  the  beams  and  rafters  of  homes 
j?till  as  beautiful  and  as  happy.  The  blackened  chimneys  must 
no  longer  stand,  grim  and  solitary,  on  the  landscape,  surrounded 
by  rank  and  profitletiis  weeds,  the  sorrowful  mile-marks  of  the 
sweep  of  desolation  as  it"  march ed,-deTouTing  our  substance,  but 
must  be  made  to  send  up  again,  from  mansion  roofs,  the  cheer- 
ful columns  of  smoke  which  once  bespoke  plenty  and  repose,  and 
to  glow  again  with  winter's  blaze  of  domestic  peace  and  sacred 
hospitality.  All  the  bloody  footprints  of  ruthless  war  must  be 
erased  by  the  hand  of  intelligent  industry. 

Looking  despairingly  at  the  condition  of  things,  the  country 
turns  toward  her  young  men,  and  calls  to  them  to  lead  the  way  in 
preaching  and  practicing  hape.  You  are  required,  above  all 
things,  to  teach  our  people  to  look  up  from  the  crumbling  ashes 
acd  prostrate  columns  Of  their  present  ruin,  to  the  majestic  pro- 
portions and  surpassing  grandeur  of  that  temple  which  may  yet 
be  built  by  the  hand  which  labors,  the  mind  which  conceives, 
and  the  great  soul  which  faints  not. 

•    An  oflficer  leading  his  men  into  battle,  himself  going  first  and 
charging  home  upon  the  enemy,  with  the  high  and  lofty  daring 


TUK    DUTIES    OF    DKFEAT.  11 

of  a  hero,  rallying  his  troops  when  they  waver,  cheering  when 
they  advance,  applauding  the  brave  and  sustaining  the  faint- 
hearted, bearing  aloft  the  colors  of  his  command,  and  struggling 
with  all  the  strength  and  spirit  of  manhood,  resolving  to  conquer 
or  to  perish,  is  esteemed  one  of  the  noblest  exhibitions  of  which 
man  is  ranable,  Vv"e  thrill  and  b^irn,  as  we  read  the  glowing 
story,  and  exhaust  the  language  of  praise,  in  extolling  his  vir- 
tues. But  not  less  glorious,  not  less  worthy  the  commendations 
of  his  countrymen,  is  he  who  in  an  hour  like  this  bravely  sub- 
mits to  fate ;  and  scorning  alike  the  promptings  of  despair,  and 
the  unmanly  refuge  of  expatriati(m.  rushes  to  the  rescue  of  his 
perishing  country,  inspires  his  fellow  citizens  with  hope,  cheers 
the  disconsolate,  arouses  the  sluggish,  lifts  up  the  helpless  and 
the  feeble,  and  by  voice  and  example,  in  every  possible  way, 
urges  forward  all  to  the  blessed  and  bloodless  and  crowning  vic- 
tories of  peace.  It  is  a  noble  thing  to  die  for  one's  country  :  it 
is  a  higher  and  a  nobler  thing  to  live  for  if. 

The  best  test  of  the  best  heroism  fiou\  is  a  cheerful  and  loyal  sub- 
mission to  the  powers  and  events  established  by  our  defeat,  and 
a  ready  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  our  country. 
Being  denied  the  iraniortal  distinction  of  dying  for  your  country, 
na  did  your  fathers  and  your  eldest  brothers,  you  may  yet  rival 
their  glory,  by  living  for  it,  if  you  \\ni  live  wisely,  earnestly  and 
well.  The  greatest  campaign,  for  which  soldiers  ever  buckled 
on  armor,  is  now  before  you.  The  drum  beats,  and  the  bugle 
sounds  to  arms,  to  repel  invading  poverty  and  destitution,  which, 
have  seized  our  strongholds  and  arc  waging  war,  cruel  and  ruth- 
less, upon  our  Avomen  and  chddren.  The  teeming  earth  is  block- 
aded by  the  terrible  lassitude  of  exhaustion,  and  we  are  required, 
through  toil  and  tribuUtion,  to  retake,  as  by  storm,  that  pros- 
perity and  happiness,  which  Avere  once  our  own,  and  to  plant  our 
banners  firmly  upon  their  e\erlasting  ramparts,  amid  the  plau- 
dits of  a  redeemed  and  regenerated  people.  The  noblest  sol- 
dier, noic.  is  he  that,  with  axe  and  plough,  pitches  his  tent  against 
the  waste  places  of  his  fire-blasted  home,  and  swears  that  from 
its  ruins  there  shall  arise  another  like  unto  it;  and  that  from  its 
barren  fields,  there  shall  come  again  the  gladdening  sheen  of  dew- 
gemmed  meadows,  in  the  rising,  ami  the  golden  waves  of  ripen- 
ing harvests,  in  the  setting  sun!  This  is  a  besieging  of  fate  it- 
self; a  hand  to  liand  struggle  with  the  stern  columns  of  calamity 


13  AN  ADDRESS. 

and  despair.  But  the  God  of  nature  hath  promised  that  it  shall 
not  fail,  when  courage,  faith  and  industry  sustain  the  assailant ; 
and  this  victory  won,  without  one  drop  of  human  hlood,  unstain- 
ed by  a  single  tear,  imparting  and  receiving  blessings  on  every 
hand,  will  be  such  as  the  wise  and  good  of  all  the  earth  may  ap- 
plaud, and  over  which  even  the  angels  might  unite  in  rejoicing. 

Now,  from  the  earth,  directly  or  indirectly,  comes  all  the 
wealth  of  man,  whether  it  be  in  flocks  upon  the  hills,  in  palaces 
within  the  city,  or  in  ships  upon  the  sea.  In  this  prolific  and 
never  failing  source  alone,  must  be  laid  the  foundations  of  our 
regeneration,  and  the  plow  is  the  great  instrument  with  which 
it  is  to  be  effected.  The  oldest  born,  the  simplest  and  most 
beneficent  of  inventions,  the  father  and  king  of  all  the  imple- 
ments of  man,  upon  it  depends  all  of  agriculture,  of  manufac- 
tures, of  commerce  and  of  civilization.  Remembering  this,  it 
will  be  your  first  and  last  great  duty,  wliether  as  legislators  or 
as  private  citizens,  to  encourage,  foster  and  protect  lalwr  v/pon 
the  aoU :  being  assured  when  it  prospers  that  all  other  desirable 
things  shall  be  added. 

During  the  course  of  the  recent  war  it  was  often  a  subject  of 
remark  that  each  side  was  grievously  deceived  in  its  estimate  of  the 
other.  And  especially  was  it  a  favorite  opinion  at  the  North, 
that  we  of  the  South  were  not  capable  of  sustaining  for  a  pro- 
tracted period  the  rigors  of  war.  It  was  said  that  our  climate, 
and  more  especially  the  system  of  slavery,  had  unmanned  us, 
and  sunk  iis  into  effeminacy,  and  rendered  us  totally  unfit  to 
grapple  with  the  hardier  and  more  robust  races  of  the  North. — 
How  they  were  undeceived  by  four  years  of  the  most  desperate 
strife  against  overwhelming  numbers  and  resources,  it  is  the  pro- 
vince of  history  to  tell.  Nor  need  we  fear  to  let  thein  write  that 
history  ;  for  a  denial  of  the  full  and  glorious  import  of  our  deeds 
would  bo  a  confession  of  their  own  shame  and  inferiority.  It 
will  be  our  duty  now,  in  better  ways,  and  under  happier  auspices, 
still  further  to  undeceive  them,  by  the  vigor  and  energy  with 
which  we  shall  clear  away  the  wreck  of  our  fallen  fortunes, 
adapt  ourselves  to  circumstances  under  changed  institutions  and 
new  systems  of  labor,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  we  shall  travel 
in  those  ways  which  lead  to  the  rebuilding  and  adorning  a  State. 
Nor  will  it  admit  of  a  doubt  that  the  Same  courage,  constancy 
and   skill,  which    led  our  slender  battalions  through   so  many 


THE    DUTIES   OP   DEFEAT,  13 

pitched  fields  of  glory,  will,  ■when  directed  into  the  peaceful 
channels  of  national  prosperity  and  quickened  by  the  sharp 
lessons  of  adversity,  be  sufficient  to  place  the  Southern  States 
of  the  American  Union  side  by  side  with  the  richest  and  the 
mightiest. 

Deserving  also  of  your  earnest  attention  is  that  moral  ruin — 
scarcely  less  extensive  tlian  the  physical — which  dogs  the  foot- 
step^ of  revolution.  No  classes  of  our  society  have  altogether 
eiicaped  it,  whilst  in  some  its  ravages  have  been  fearful.  The 
peculiar  counteracting  influences — those  of  schools  an (^ school- 
masters— the  general  poverty  of  the  coimtry  has  well  nigh  des- 
troyed. The  almost  total  loss  of  the  very  considerable  fiftid  set 
apart  by  the  wisdom  of  our  Legislators  in  happier  times  for  the 
education  of  the  poor  children  of  the  State,  and  the  consequent 
abandonment  of  our  system  of  Common  Schools,  are  by  no  means 
to  be  reckoned  among  the  least  of  our  many  misfortunes.  To 
the  thousands  of  children,  whose  parents  were  heretofore  unable 
toifeclucate  them,  are  now  added  other  thousandsyeducedto  a  worse 
condition  by  the  results  of  the  war.  Their  situation  forms  a  sub- 
ject of  the  most  serious  magnitude,  and  imposes  additional  obli- 
gatiofls  upon  all,  who,  like  you,  have  been  favored  with  the 
ml^aris  and  opportunity  of  education.  But  among  all  the  sacred 
duties  which  will  devolve  on  you  as  citizens  and  patriots,  there 
are  some  more  sacred  still  than  others  ;  and  one  of  these  is  the 
looking  after,  and  caring  for,  the  orphans  of  those  who  perished 
in  your  defence  and  mine.  Numbers  of  them  are  destitute  not 
only  of  the  means  of  education,  but  of  subsistence  itself.  With- 
out friends  or  protectors,  they  will  wander  into  ways  of  wicked- 
ness 4*rid  ruin.  It  has  already  been  my  painful  fortune,  to  wit_ 
riesS  an  instance  of  such  an  one  brought  into  the  courts  of  justice, 
charged  with  crimes  committed  under  the  influence  of  want,  and 
in  the  absence  of  a  father's  teachings.  But  that  father  was  sleep- 
ing far  aAvay  in  a  rude  soldier's  grave  in  the  wilderness  of  the 
Chickahominy,  and  his  orphan  boy,  without  a  parent,  a  protector, 
or  a  friend  in  the  world,  lone  and  homeless,  had  wandered  among 
strangers  and  been  tempted  into  crime.  I  vdsited  hira  in  prison, 
wbere  without  a  coat,  without  shoes  or  hat,  and  his  few  remain- 
ing garments  displaying  his  pale  and  delicate  frame,  he  told  me 
his  simple  and  piteous  story.  His  tender  years  and  helpless  con- 
dition appealed  so  strongly  to  the  court  that  the  penalties  of  the 


14  AN    ADDKKSS. 

law  were  not  inflicted  on  hira.  A  kind  gentleman  caun;  for- 
ward, agreed  to  give  liini  a  iionie  and  became  bound  for  iiis  bet- 
ter behavior :  and  being  admonished  to  go  and  sin  no  more, 
he  was  led  away.  But  my  heart  bled  within  me,  when  I  remem- 
bered that  he  was  only  one  of  thousands  whose  fortune  was  equal- 
ly hard,  and  that  he  had  thus  lost  home,  and  father,  and  an  hon- 
est life, /or  you  and  for  me !  Oh  !  my  friends,  may  God  do  so 
to  you,  and  more  also,  if  you  ever  ixxrn  vour  backs  upon  an  oi"- 
phan  child  of  one  who  perished  in  your  defence  I  Their  blood 
was  slie(4  whether  wisely  or  unwisely,  in  your  behalf;  let  it  ap- 
peal to  you  for  their  naked  and  helpless  children,  from  the  fields 
of  slaug^iter  where  they  spilled  it,  and  woe  be  unto  you,  if  it  ap- 
peals in  vain !  "  The  Lord  deal  kindly  with  you,  as  ye  have 
tlealt  with  the  dead." 

Nor  do  our  duties  to  these  brave  men  cease  with  their  child- 
ren. There  is  a  debt  which  neither  test  oaths  nor  Congression- 
al amendments  have  forbidden  us  to  pay.  AVe  owe  to  the  dead 
what  it  is  possible^  do  for  their  remains  and  their  memories,  and 
no  charge  of  faithlessness  to  our  own  obligations,  it  seems  to 
me,  should  stand  between  us  and  its  discharge. 

"  Their  bones  are  scattered  far  and  wide. 
By  mount,  by  stream  and  sea,  " 

and  it  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  eulogizing  the  cuusr,  for  which 
they  perished,  (for  that  is  already  in  the  hands  of  history.)  that 
we  would  gather  them  up  for  decent  sepulture,  and  perpetuate 
their  memories  by  tablets  of  stone.  It  is  simply  to  testify  our 
love  for  our  OAvn  blood,  and  our  grateful  admiration  of  the  vir- 
tue and  patriotism,  and  unavailing  courage,  wliich  laid  them 
low.  From  that  fatal  Avail  of  Gettysburg  to  the  banks  of  the 
Rio  Grande,  two  thousand  miles  of  travel  are  marked  by  iho 
Golgothas  of  our  kindred.  In  nameless  valleys,  on  rugged 
mountains,  in  wild  and  solitary  swamps,  the  noblest,  and  the 
bravest,  and  the  highest  of  Southern  manhood — children  of 
the  Cavalier  and  the  Huguenot — sleep  iii  shalloAV  and  unknown 
graves,  or  moulder  upon  the  soil  like  tlu  beasts  that  perish. — 
The  lawgiver  and  the  plowman,  tlu'  poet  --ud  the  cart  boy,  the 
accomplished  scholar  and  the  rude  U'^'id-  of  the  hamlet,  rest 
.«ide  by  side  awaiting  tlie  Sna,!  iramp,  and  many  a  mother  that 
bor«  him  knows  not  oi"  his  lowly  bed,  nor  can  cast  one  flower 
upon  the  grave  of  her  lost  boy.  And  yet  the  nations  listened 
to  the  roar  of  that  boy'e  musket,  and  watched,  with  heart  aglow 


•  THE    DUTIES   OF   DEFEAT.      •  15 

and  bkod  on  fire,  as  he  strove  to  erect  the  "  arch  of  empire  " 
through  the  belching  flames  and  glittering  bayonets  of  many  a 
battlemented  height  !  Lustre  and  glory — everything  but  suc- 
cess— he  shed  abundantly  upon  his  country. 

"  Tlie  silent  pillar,  lone  and  gray, 
Claims  kindred  with  his  sacrod  clay  ; 
The  meanest  rill,  the  mightiest  river, 
Roils  mingling  with  his  fame  forever.  " 

"When  the  civlii?;cd  world  has  rung  with  the  praises  of  these  men, 
and  even  the  generous  of  their  foes  have  not  withheld  the  ho- 
mage ever  due  to  valor  and  to  virtue,  certainly  we  may  be 
pardoned  for  seeking  to  do  this  poor  honor  to  our  own.  ; 

"  If  I,  a  Nortliern  wanderer,  weep  for  thee, 

What  should  thy  suns  do  i '" 

The  very  least  that  we  can  do,  is  to  bring  their  remains  home 
and  bury  them  with  decency  and  in  silence.  No  monuments  of 
victory  are  for  us,  no  national  jubilee  can  we  celebrate,  no  songs 
of  triumph  can  our  maidens  sing,  or  garlands  of  glory  Aveavc; ; 
there  is  no  welcoming  of  returning  conquerors,  nor  erecting  of 
triumphal  arches  for  us  to  console  us  for  our  great  suftoring. 
We  are  all  alone  with  our  great  defeat  and  that  heavy  sorrow, 
Avhich, '•  never  flitting,  still  is  sitting,  still  is  sitting,"  in  our 
households  ;  and  all  tlmt  we  have  left  for  our  comfort  is  the  sad, 
yet  tender  light  which  plays  around  the  memory  of  those;  who 
died  to  make  it  otherwise  !  The  poor  honors  we  show  to  them 
are  as  much  shown  to  ourselves,  and  still  more  to  humanity. — 
Respect  to  the  memory  of  the  worthy  dead  is  older  than  civiliza- 
tion. In  all  ages,  and  among  all  nations  and  peoples,  from 
those  "who  dwell  within  the  gates  of  the  rising  sun,  "  to  tliose 
who  behold  his  mightier  light  give  place  to  the  di-eamy  domin- 
ions of  the  evening  star,  it  has  been  usual  to  revere  those  who 
died  for  their  country,  and  to  celebrate  their  virtues  with  the 
highest  funeral  honors. 

Our  noble  >'ountry-women,  abounding  in  that  tenderness 
which  ever  cleaves  to  misfortune,  have  undertaken  this  pious 
duty.  But  you  must  lielp  them,  the  whole  people  of  the  South 
must  help  ;  and  small,  indeed,  will  be  the  hopes  we  may  claim 
of  the  living  if,  by  refusing  you  show  yourselves  insensible 
to  the  virtues  of  the  dead.  I  hope  yet  to  see  the  honored  dust 
of  every  Southern  soldier  reverently  gathered  up,  and  placed 
■where  gentle  hands  can  show,  by  beautifying  and  adorning  his 
quiet  home,  that  we  love  him   all  the  same,  and  blej?**.  him  all 


16  *  AN    ADDRESS.  • 

tlic  more,  tliougti  lie  died  in  vain.  And  in  due  time,  I  <loubt 
not,  monuments  of  marble  and  granite  will  tell  the  stranger 
how    North  Carolina  cherishes  the  memory  of  her  illu^tj'ious 

children.  .':.-  c: 

"Tread  lightly,— 'tis  a  soldier's  grave,  ,^_ 

•     This  lonely,  mossy  mound, —  "■"' 

And  yet,  to  hearts  like  mine  and  thine,  -   .     .;•..;•.  ... 

It  should  be  holy  ground.  ' -.    ... 

Tread  lightly, — for  this  man  bequeathed,  •    -  •"    --"•-- 

Ere  laid  below  this  sod,  -:■--  ■:v.i.*IS' 
His  ashes  to  his  native  land. 
His  gallant  soul  to  God  I  " 

The  time  is  not  far  distant,  -when  as  citizens,  I  trust,- y<>u  m\\ 
he  permitted  to  take  apart  in  the  government  of  your  co«ntr-y. 
The  path  of  the  statesman  for  the  past  decade  has  beeh  beset 
with  peculiar  difficulties  ;  n(jr  is  it  likely  that  the  surroundings 
of  the  present  period  -will  prove  less  embarrassing  to  any  p-tiblic 
man  honestly  seeking  Ids  country's  good.  The  lessons  of  ^ex- 
perience -would  make  us  all  wise,  if  they  were  not  forgotten",  in 
taking  whatever  positions  3-our  talents  or  inclinations- psiy 
cause  to  be  assigned  jov,  my  most  solemn  injunction  would-be 
to  burn  into  your  memories,  forever,  the  teachings  of  the:  Aemi- 
hle  experience  of  the  })ast  five  years.  The  great  problem  :we 
have  just  worked  out  is  full  of  mighty  meaning,  its  theoi'cm  is 
tlemonstratcd  in.  characters  of  '•'fraternal  blood,  "  and  all  its 
corollaries  teem  with  changes  of  power  and  the  downfall  of  sys- 
tems. Let  it  ever  be  before  your  eyes,  and  learn  of  it,  among 
other  Avise  tilings,  that  the  yielding  to-  blind  passions  and  per- 
sonal resentments,  when  the  happiness  of  thousands  is  entrust- 
ed to  join-  J udgtnent,  is  a  crime  for  wliich  God  will  hold  you  ac- 
countable. The  subjection  of  every  passion  and  prejudice  in 
the  breast,  to  the  cooler  sway  of  judgment  and  reason,. w,hen 
the  common  welfare  is  cToncerncd,  is  the  first  victory  to  h^  Wpn 
in  a  poli';ical  career.  Without  it,  you  can  win  no  .other,  iii 
■svhich  your  country  can  rejoice.  The  philosophy  of  politics  ex- 
hibits many  instructive  phenomena,  which  you  should  carefully 
study.  The  federative  system  of  separate  and  quasi-ihdepen- 
tlent  States,  which  composed  the  American  Union,  embraced 
many  peculiar  features  in  relation  to  the  science  of  govern- 
ment, little  known  or  practiced  by  other  nations.  Years  ago, 
M.  Guizot  pronounced  it  the  most  difficult  and  complex  in  the 
■world;  an  opinion  w4iich  the  irifinite  disagreements  of  our  own 
Stat^'mcn.  in  regard  to  its  power  and  limitations,  have  amply 


"~  THE  DUTIES  OP  DEFEAT.  17 

justified.  Its  structure,  originally,  -was  not  unlike  the  planeta- 
ry system;  as  each  State  was  assigned,  by  its  authors,  an  orbit 
in  which  to  move  around  the  General  Government  as  a  grand 
centre.  The  dangers,  against  which  its  founders  seemed  most 
ansious  to  provide,  were  to  arise  from  the  imperfect  balancing 
of  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces,  a  predominance  of 
either  being  esteemed  fatal.  Should  the  former  prevail,  the 
Government  would  be  destroyed  by  the  flying  off  of  the  States, 
or  the  dismemberment  of  its  parts.  This  would  be  secession. — 
Should  the  latter  predominate,  there  would  be  an  end  of  the  sys- 
tem, by  the  crushing  out  and  merging  of  all  the  parts  in  the 
Central  Government.  This  would  be  consolidation.  It  was  be- 
lieved that  the  Constitution  (the  law  of  gravitation)  had  so  wisely 
distributed  its  forces  that  each  would  act,  in  accordance  with  the 
original  design,  without  destroying  the  other.  But  these  fond 
hopes  were  doomed  to  a  terrible  disappointment.  Whether  it 
be  that,  as  history  teaches,  there  has  been  a  constant  tendency 
to  centralization  among  all  governments  which  had  maintained 
and  thrown  off  the  feudal  system  ;  or  that  no  written  consti- 
tution can  stand  the  strain  of  civil  war ;  or  simply  that  men,  in 
times  of  great  excitement,  cannot  preserve  judgment  to  dis- 
cern the  right  from  the  wrong,  or  integrity  enough  to  keep  in^ 
tact  an  official  oath,  it  is  needless  on  the  present  occasion  to 
inquire.  The  recent  attempt,  on  the  part  of  a  minority  of  the 
States,  to  withdraw  from  the  system,  was  successfully  resisted 
by  the  majority,  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority  of  the  Cen- 
tral Government.  In  order  to  effect  this,  powers  were  claimed 
and  exercised  by  the  latter^  as  the  contest  proceeded,  higher 
and  more  extraordinary  than  the  wildest  consolidationist  ever 
dreamed  of  asserting  beforoi  This  destroyed,  in  letter  and 
spirit,  the  original  compact,  iitterly  and  absolutely  ;  and  so  dis- 
turbed the  whole  system  that,  in  the  vciy  nature  of  things,  it  is 
impossible  for  it  to  oscillate  into  place  again.  The  predomi- 
nance of  the  centripetal  power  is  complete,  and  the  results  es- 
tablished, logically,  are  that  the  States  cannot  Avithdraw,  that 
they  are  subject  to  coercion,  not  only  as  to  their  external  rela- 
tions, but  as  to  their  internal  policy,  their  domestic  laws,  and 
everything  else  whatsoever  pertaining  to  sovereignty.  It  does 
net  logically  follow,  however,  not  even  by  the  logic  of  revolu- 
2 


18  AN   ADDRESS, 

tions,  that,  having  neither  the  legal  nor  the  physical  power  to 
withdraw,  they  are  yet  out  of  the  Union.  That  were,  indeed,  a 
moral  and  a  physical  impossibility.  The  very  Hower  of  the  pre- 
rogative of  the  State-3  is,  therefore,  swept  away  by  the  decision 
of  this  tribunal  which  is  the  last  resort  of  kings,  and  to  which  a 
conquered  people  can  interpose  no  demurrer. 

Such  y  now  ihe  actual  state  of  things,  unfortunate  as  we  msij 
regard  it,  and  contrary  as  it  may  seem  to  all  of  our  ideas  of  the 
true  purposes  of  the  government.  But  it  is  our  country  •  still,  and 
if  it  cannot  be  governed  as  we  wish  it,  it  must  yet  be  governed 
some  other  way;  and  it  is  still  our  duty  to  labor,  ibr  its  prosperi- 
ty and  glory,  vrith  ardor  and  sincerity.  I  earnestly  urge  upon 
you  the  Htrictest  conformity  of  your  conduct  to  the  situation :  to 
what  the  government  actually  is,  not  what  you  may  think  it 
ought  to  be.  It  is  our  bounden  duty  as  honest  men  to  give  our 
new  formed  institutions  a  full  and  fair  trial — especially  the  new 
system  of  labor — ^and  if  they  prove  better  than  the  old,  let  u.s 
forget  our  sufferings  and  be  thankful.  And  let  us  not  doubt,  if 
the  occasion  should  ever  come,  that,  for  the  sake  of  her  own  the- 
ory, Massachusetts  will  cheerfully  submit  to  the  same  degrada- 
tion which  North  Carolina  has  borne. 

In  the  discussion  and  progress  of  political  questions,  you  will 
mostly  find  that  there  are  practically  three  divisions  of  the  peo- 
ple, though  there  generally  appear  but  two.  Two  of  these  occu- 
py the  extremest  opposite  positions,  whilst  the  third,  usually  de- 
nominated conservative,  stands  bet  ween.  This  class  generally 
exceeds  either  or  both  of  the  others  in  numbers,  and  in  the  char- 
acter and  worth  of  its  leaders.  Could  it  always  rule,  whilst 
there  would  certainly  be  less  of  progress,  there  would  yet  be  less 
of  civil  commotion,  and  far  more  of  true  happiness.  But  strange 
to  say,  though  in  a  majority,  this  class  is  seldom  in  power;  for 
paradoxical  as  it  may  appear,  the  extremists  are  nearer  to  each 
other  than  to  the  intermediate  class,  and  generally  combine  to 
overcome  it.  It  is,  moreover,  a  well  known  defect  of  popular 
governments,  that  they  are  prone  to  mistake  the  zeal  and  ear- 
nestness of  the  extremists  for  sound  policy,  which  contributes 
further  to  their  triumph.  The  cooler  wisdom  of  the  conserva- 
tive statesman  is  generally  appreciated  after  the  mischief  is 
done.  Those  bold  and  striking  qualities,  so  apt  to  captivate 
the  young  and  enthusiaatic,  in  war  and  in  politics,  arc  mostly 


TES  DUTtBS  OF  DEFEAT.  1ft 

dangerous  to  good  government.  And  yet  mankind  have  been 
<;ver  eager  to  be  deceived  by  them.  Even  history,  stem 
and  dignified,  lends  itself,  perhaps  unconsciously,  to  the  damag- 
ing delusion.  Whilst  page  after  page  paints  the  glories  of  the 
hero  who  plunged  his  country  into  vrar,  and  brought  desolat'on 
to  the  doors  of  his  people,  a  few  brief  and  passing  lines  suffice 
for  the  sagacious  statesman  who  lias  honored  his  humanity  by 
preventing  slaughter.  It  is  to  some  extent  so,  in  the  nature  of 
things.  The  great  deeds  done  are  tangible  and  real;  the  great 
calamities  avoided  are  only  in  the  mind,  and  we  cannot  fully 
grasp  them.  Just  as  the  sublime  description  of  Dante's  Infer- 
no, with  all  the  powers  of  the  most  vivid  imagination,  fails  to 
inspire  an  idea  of  torture  half  equal  to  that  which  we  feel  by 
holdinu  the  finger  for  one  moment  in  the  blaze  of  a  candle. — 
But  if  history  could  be  differently  written,  and  were  it  possible 
to  set  against  what  this  great  man  has  done,  charged  with  the 
misery  which  he  inflicted,  that  which  another  greater  and  better 
man  has  not  done,  credited  with  the  suffering  which  he  hap 
spared  his  people,  how  different  would  be  the  verdict  of  postori- 
tv !  and  how  naked  would  many  a  popular  hero  appear  I  Alas, 
alas  I  why  will  civilization  permit  its  true  heroes  to  sleep  in  for- 
gotten graves,  while  marble  and  bronze  celebrate  the  virtues  of 
those  whose  greatnesfi  consisteil  in  their  power  to  inflict  wretch- 
edness ? 

There  is  no  more  valuable  lesson  to  be  learned  from  the  troub- 
led and  conflicting  scenes  of  the  recent  past,  than  the  ob\aous 
value  of  self-respecting  consistency  to  the  character  of  a  public 
man.  And  this,  not  in  the  narrow  and  popular  sense  ofthjit 
much  abused  term,  as  meaning  an  unchanging  adherence  to  one 
opinion  or  set  of  opinions.  The  dullest  intellect  and  the  meau- 
pst  spirit  can  not  only  do  that,  but  is  roost  apt  to  do  it ;  whilst 
wise  men  see  the  necessity  of  changing  as  often  as  the  ever-va- 
rying phases  of  the  case  may  render  it  indispensable ;  as  a  good 
general  changes  front  so  often  as  it  is  required  in  order  to  face 
the  enemy.  But  all  public  men  should  propose  certain  great 
truths  or  principles  as  their  objects  to  be  attained — never  to  be 
abandoned  except  upon  the  clearest  con^^ctions  of  theirfalsity — 
ftvid  though  the  means,  by  which  those  principles  should  be  pre- 
served, may  be  varied  to  suit  expediency,  through  good  and  evil 
report  the  great  objects  should  be  conscientiously  adhered  to.^- 


20-  A?7  ADDSKSS. 

This  is  consistency.     You  mil  find  it  not  only  the  bestpoHcj  for: 
the  truth's  sake,  but  to  inspire  confidence.  For  without  truth  there 
can  be  no  confidence,  and  -without  confidence  governments  can- 
not, any  more  than  armies,  be  led  to  victory.     A  blunder,  hon] 
estly  confessed,  is  already  half  atoned ;  presisted  in  wilfully,  it  -■ 
perpetuates  ruin  and  becomes  a  crime.     Nor  is  it  excusable  to  ■ 
attempt  the  extenuation  of  one  blunder,  by  confessing  to  anoth- 
er ;  or  to  refuse  to  your  confederates  in  error  the  same  mercy 
which  has  been  extended  to  you.     It  is  a  mean  plea,  and  one  of 
a  meaner  culprit,  which  tries  to  evade  the  halter  for  the  first 
crime,  by  owning  that  he  infinitely  more  deserved  a  hanging  for 
the  second :  and  a  politician,  who  cannot  forgive  as  ho  is  forgiv- 
en, is  both  a  bad  statesman  and  a  bad  man.     Faith,  honestly 
kept,  even  in  the  worst  of  causes,  can  never  fail  to  inspire  re- 
spect in  the  breast  of  a  generous  foe,  which  not  even  the  bitter- 
ness of  a  civil  war  can  destroy.     In  this  connection,  I  would' 
recommend  to  your  earnest  consideration,  the  masterly  delinea-"'' 
tion  of  the  character  of  Shaftesbury  by  Macaulay,  as  instructive* 
ly  portraying  a  set  of  men  who  swarm  in  times  of  revolutianj-** 
and  are  justly  regarded  as  greatly  aggravating  the  public  mis*'' 
fortunes.  •::  :  ■ 

With  regard  to  current  political  events  and  speculations  of  " 
the  future,  of  which  we  are  permitted  to  be  only  quiet,  thougli 
deeply  interested  spectators,  I  do  not,  altogether,  share  the 
general  alarm  that  pervades  the  Southern  mind.  The  taunts, 
the  gibes,  the  sneers  and  the  vulgar  triumphs  of  ignoble  spir- 
its, whicli  so  annoy  and  mortify,  were  to  be  expected.  Their 
brief  day  will  soon  pass.  They  were  born  of  the  ItceUse  of 
victory,  and  will  endure  no  longer  than  the  excitements  of  the  ' 
occasion  serve  to  render  good  men  ungenerous.  Happily  it"' 
is  not  in  the  nature  of  man  always  to  hate  ;  and  the  reigii  of 
the  bad  passions  Is  short-lived.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  ha- 
tred will  long  continue  between  two  communities  brought  int6 
daily,  familiar  intercourse,  when  the  subjects  of  contention 
have  been  removed,  and  when  mutual  interests  and  common 
associations  invite  to  good  will.  "  The  disposition  of  man  is 
so  kindly  and  good,"  says  M.  Guizot,  in  his  History  of  Civili- 
zation, "  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  number  of  individ- 
uals to  be  placed  for  any  length  ot  time  in  a  social  situation, 
without  giving  birth  to  a  certain  moral  tie  between  them  ; 


THE  DUTIM  OF  DfiFBAT.  24 

^entTments  of  protection,  of  benevolence,  of  aflFection  spring 
up  naturally."  As  the  passions  cool,  reason  must  return,  and 
with  reason  comes  justice,  whose  inseparable  companion  is 
fraternity.  If  it  were  not  so,  there  would  be  no  end  of  strife. 
Could  we  calmly  and  impartially  consider  now  the  depth  and 
fierceness  of  the  passions  which  so  lately  raged  in  the  hearts 
of  all,  it  would  doubtless  appear  that  the  embers  of  bitterness, 
though  still  burning,  were  yet  flickering  day  by  day  to  their 
extinction,  with  a  rapidity  for  which  we  should  ferveutly  thank 
God.  The  reaction  to  this  great  stretch  of  human  passion  is 
sure  to  come  :  it  will  come  soon,  and,  like  everything  else 
iVmcrican,  it  will  come  with. poicef.  Magnanimity,  the  great- 
est of  national  as, of  private  virtues,  w-ill  once  more  reign, 
tiud  will  soon  shame  the  Northern  manhood  from  assailing  a 
brave  people  who  no  longer  resist.  They  have  already  a  shin- 
ing example  in  theij-  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic,  worthy 
of  all  honor  and  emulation.  In  contemplating  his  official  ac- 
tion toward  those  who  were  so  lately  his  extreraest  enemies, 
and  observing  hoWi.he  has  magnanimously  sunk  what  must 
have  been  the  feelings  ofiheman  in  those  of  the  patriot  and  the 
jitatesman,  and  how  his  keen  intellect  has  appreciated  the  true 
situation  of  affaire,  disappointing  none  so  much  as  those  who 
undervalued  him,  we  are  at  once  reminded  of  that  splendid 
burst  of  eloquence  uttered  by  Cicero  on  the  occasion  of  re- 
turning the  thanks  _jOf  the  Senate  to  Caesar  for  the  pardon  and 
restoration  of  his  enemy,  Marcellus.  Though  fulsome  and 
extravagant — a  fault  both  of  the  orator  and  his  age — it  yet 
contains  so  fine  a  tributa  to  a  great  virtue  that  I  cannot  re- 
frain from  quoting  a  portion  of  it.  Addressing  Caesar,  he 
said:  **  You  have  conquered  nations  brutally  barbarous,  im- 
mensely numerous,  boundlessly  extended,  and  furnished  with 
everything  that  CAn  make  war  successful.  Yet  all  these,  their 
own  nature  and  the  nature  of  things  made  it  possible  to  con- 
quer, for  no  strength  is  so  great  as  to  be  absolutely  invinci- 
ble, and  no. power  so  formidable  as  to  be  proof  against  superi- 
or force  and  courage.  But  the  man  who  subdues  j^assion. 
stifles  resentments,  t^jmpers  victory,  and  not  only  roars  the 
noble,  wise  and  virtuous  toe  when  prostrate,  but  heightens 
his  former  dignity,  [>  a  man  not  to  be  ranked  with  the  great- 
est mortals,  but  resembles  a  god  I ''  Well  might  our  Christian 
religion  teach  us  the  sublime  duty  of  mercy  to  the  fallen  foe. 


82  A2T  ADDHSSS. 

when  even  the  splendid  imagery  of  the  greatest  oi  ancient 
orators,  in  the  midst  of  the  highest  types  of  heathen  civiliza- 
tion, could  find  no  nobler  attribute  with  which  to  invest  his 
deities! 

What  a  genuine  stroke  of  statesmanship  this  noble  clemency 
of  President  Johnson  was ;  and  how  warmly  appreciated  it 
has  been,  not  culy  by  its  poor  and  afflicted  recipients,  but  by 
the  \\hole  world  I  How  soon  was  the  terrible  suspense  and 
trouljlcd  anxiety,  which  filled  all  the  land  after  the  surrender 
of  our  armies,  turned  into  blessing  and  praise  !  Through  him, 
and  such  as  he,  we  begin  to'see  how  it  is  possible  to  love  our 
whole  country  once  more.  Through  him  it  is — far  more  than 
test  oaths  r.nd  f- jnilar  feeble  contrivances — that  the  deep  and 
sincei'e  feeling  ]  <''nades  all  the  South  to  submit  nobly  to,  and 
abide  honestly  by,  all  the  results  of  the  war.  The  true  bonds 
to  impose  upriii  m  conquered  people  are  wrought  in  the  mag- 
nanimity of  flic  conquerors.  The  mightiest  cables  of  iron 
ever  forger!  in  the  mammoth  fnrna(;es  of  the  land,  though 
long  enough  and  htrong  enough  to  link  together,  indissolubly,. 
the  countless  fleets  of  the  Kepublic,  in  the  midst  of.tho.M'ild- 
est  tempest  thai  ever  strewed  our  shores  with  the  wreck  bt 
stranded  ships,  are  yet  not  so  strong  as  the  cords  of  lasting 
gratitude  with  vrbich  a  generous  people  receive  the  magnani- 
mous kindness  of  those  late  foes,  with  whom  thev  have  just 
measured  strength  in  many  a  manly  .field  ;  especially,  when 
those  kindnesses  reveal  glimpses  of  an  ancient  and  once,  glori- 
ous brotherhood  I  May  God  in  his  infinite  mercy  grant  that 
these  glimpses  may  ripen  into  full  aiid  everlasting  realities, 
and  that  ihe  spirit  of  reconciled  brothers  may  again  animate 
air  the  people  of  this  mighty  land,  which  has  hitherto  render- 
ed it  £0  renowned  among  the  nations  I 

Respect  must  be  the  foundation  of  all  national  as  well  as. 
all  private  friendships.     And  M'hen  the  bitter  pangs, of  the  rej 
cent  struggle  are  buried,  as  they  must  be,  there  wil]  remain, 
no  reason  why  mutual  respect  should  not  prevail;  unless,'  in- 
deed, our  conduct,  in  IIjO  hour  cf  our  humiliation,  should  fur-  , 
nish  it.     Here  Ave  have  been  in  danger  of  the  most  cruel  mis- 
take.    For  grievously  do  we  deceive  ourselves,  if"  we  suppose  , 
that  we  inspire  respect  in  the  bosc>ms  of  our  late  enemies,  in 
t  roportion  as  we  voluntarily  practice  uncalled  for  self-abasc- 
tnent.     A¥c  can  but  inspire  disgust  alone  when  "sve  thus  show 


THE, DUTIES  OF  DEFEAT.  ^* 

.  them  that  their  vast  armies  and  great  generals  were,  after  all, 
only  employed  to  subdue  a  race  of  mean-spirited  dirt-eaters, 
from  among  wliom  the  truly  noLle  had  been  mercifully  slain 
•  rn  the  battle !     The  -seyerest  contempt  of  civilization  is  ricli- 
ly  merited  by  a  people  who  would  cast  obloquy  upon  the  ashes 
j^f  their  own  dead  children;  and  as  the  best  evidence  of  the 
-ir-uth  and  sincerity  of  their  present  obligations  aver  the  utter 
falsity  of  their  former  ones  !     That  a  man  must  be  necessarily 
telling  truth  to-day,  because  he  was  undoubtedly  a  liar  only  so 
late  as  yesterday !     "When  we  approach  our  conquerors  with 
^nch  evidences  of  loyalty,  there  is  little  wonder  that  we  in- 
Hpire  contempt  and  suspicion.     Surely  tliefaet  ot  our  submis- 
sion can  be  sufficiently  complete  and  sincere,  without  making 
.'the  manner  thereof  such  as  to  forfeit  the  respect  either  of 
ourselves  or  our  late  foes. 

Our  great  country,  of  thQ  South,  with  its  fertile  ■6ol\,  happy 
climate,  and  boundless  resources,  excites  tlie  highest  ad  mi  ra- 
tion of  the  Northern  people.  The  vigorous  scope  and  con- 
servative tendency  of  our  statesmanship  they  have  never  fail- 
ed to  respect,  and  have  even  acknowledged  tliat  it  has  con- 
trolled, to  a  great  degree,  the  policy  of  the  Government,  in 
and  from  its  organisation ;  thereby  giving  us  credit  for  much 
of  its  power  and  glory.  They  cannot  but  remember  that  it 
was  Southern  fanner-statesmen  of  Mecklenburg,  Xorth  Caro- 
lina, v.-ho  soanded  tlie  key  note  of  Independence  ia  ITTo,  in 
that  celebrated  paper,  in  wliich,  as  pronounced  by  their  own 
Adams,  "  the  genuine  sense  of  America  at  that  mouient  was 
never  so  well  expressed  before  nor  since;"  and  by  tlie  side  of 
which  Tom,  Paine's  famous  "  Common  Sense ""  tracts,  accord- 
ing to  the  same  author,  were  a."  poor,  ignorant,  malicious, 
'crapulous  mass.  "  They  cannot  forget  that  the  otlier  woi  Id- 
renowned  declaration,  tliat  of  1776,  was  from  the  brain  of  a 
Southern  statesman  ;  and  that  it  was  the  genius  of  a  Southern 
general,  who,  in  making  good  its  bold  assumptions,  rendered 
liimself  the  most  illustrious  of  mankind.  Xor  yet  can  they 
forget  that  in  two  foreigT^.  vrars  the  most. signal  glory  slicd 
upon  our  country's  arms  was  by  the  skill  and  valor  of  South- 
ern commanders,  followed  by  Southern  volunteers.  And  cer- 
tainly they  cannot  overlook,  even  now,  that  fund  of  military 
genius,  intrepid  gallantry,  heroic  constancy  under  misfortune, 
and  all  the  traits  which  mark  a  noble  people,  that  wo  have  eo 


84  AN  ADDTIESS. 

lately  exhibited.  1  would  as  soon  believe  that  there  wa«  no 
room  for  such  things  in  the  breasts  of  men  as  truth  and  honor, 
as  that  every  soldier  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  from  its 
General  to  the  humblest  private  that  followed  its  banners,  did 
not.  in  his  heart,  respect  and  honor  the  lofty  courage,  consum- 
mate skill,  and  patient  constancy  of  that  other  army^  which, 
though  vastly  inferior  in  numbers  and  appointments,  yet  kept 
it  four  years  on  the  short  but  bloody  journey  from  the  Poto- 
mac to  the  James,  and  piled  ever^y  inch  of  its  pathway  with 
ghastly  monuments  of  the  slain  !  Let  not  the  sneer  of  the  su- 
percilious, nor  the  taunt  of  the  ungenerous,  over  our  final  de- 
feat, deceive  us  in  this  matter,  or  cause  us  to  abate  one  jot  of 
our  just  claims  to  the  high  place  in  history  which  posterity 
will  award  us.  That,  which  has  so  moved  upon  the  sympathy 
and  admiration  of  the  world,  has  already  excited,  and  will  yet 
more  excite,  that  of  our  Xorthem  friends.  And  in  due  time 
if  we  faint  not,  we  shall  reap  those  fruits  which  the  generous 
and  the  better  feelings  of  men  never  fail  to  bear.  Years  hence 
when,  as  I  trust,  time  and  a  juster  policy  shall  have  healed 
many  an  ugly  wound,  and  quieted  many  an  aching  heart,  the 
story  of  the  great  civil  war  will  be  read  around  a  thousand 
firesides  among  the  homes  of  the  North,  and  as  the  glowing 
recital  burns  upon  the  ear,  how  that  one-fourth  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  without  manufactures  and  almost  with- 
out arms,  without  ships,  arsenals  or  foundries,  shut  out  from 
all  the  world  by  a  sealed  blockade,  for  four  long  aiid  terrible 
years  fought  back  and  kept  at  bay  the  other  three* fourths,  who 
were  aided  by  manumitted  slaves,  who  had  great  navies,  their 
own  and  the  workshops  of  the  world  at  their  control,  and 
whose  slaughtered  armies  were  filled  up  again  and  again, 
from  the  swarming  populations  of  Europe ;  and  how  the  rag- 
ged battalions  of  the  South,  under  I.ee  and  Jackson,  and 
Johnson,  and  Hoke,  arid  Pen(^(?r,  and  E(irly,  struggled  with 
the  great  armies  of  H^Clellan  and  Grant,  and  Sherman,  and 
Sheridan,  and  Buellj  xmtil  the  world  was  full  ot  their  fame ; 
A  thousand  fathers,  burning  with  the  unconfcssed  prido  of 
tjoitntry  and  of  race,  will  say  to  their  sons  who  wonder  how 
all  this  QDuld  have  been  :  "■  Those  were  the  countrymen  Of 
Washington  and  Jackf*on.  These  were  Americans — none 
but  American  citizens  could  have  done  these  things  1 " 
And  now  what  is  said  is  said.    Would  that  it  were  b^ter 


TBEE  DUTIES  OF  DEFEAT.  85 

eaid-     The  one  great  theme — our  country  and  its  sufferings — 
•  QO.  fills  my  heart,  as  I  presume  it  does  all  hearts,  that  I  have 
:. .spoken  much  of  it.     Your  letter  of  invitation  likewise  implied 
£*,  that,  though  it  was  a  literary  occasion,  a  purely  literary  ad- 
.;  dress  w^  not  expected.     I  trust  that  I  may  have  assisted 
-iii89i«ewhat  in  pointing  you  to  those  paths  of  usefiilness  and 
ti-ho«or,:  in  treading  which  you  may  best  serve  your  dear  old 
;,'..' rMotherj  rent  and  ruined  as  she  is.    Her  eyes   are  turned  now^ 
yearningly  and  with  maternal  pride,  toward  her  educated 
sons,  pleading  that  they  will  hold  up  her  arms  that  her  evil 
days  may  be  few.     May   this  honored  and  reviving  Univer- 
sity speedily,  and  from  time  to  time,  open  again  its  gates  and 
send  forth  to  the  work  of  the  regeneration  of  their  country 
as  many  high-souled  and  generous,  brave  and  enthusiastic 
^f.;youtiis,   as   rushed  through   its  portals    to  untimely  graves 
during  the  years  of  our  tribulation.     I  could  not  endure  to 
.J,  live  but  for  the  comforting  hope  that  compensating  years  of 
e,^;,peace  and  happiness  are  yet  in  store  for  those  who  have  strug- 
gled so  manfully  and  endured  so  nobly.     Having  gone  down 
^,^,i:Qto  the  very  lowest  depths  of  the  fiery  furnace  of  affliction, 
..seven  times  heated  by  the  cruel  malice  of  civil  war,  I  believe 
there  will  yet  appear,   walking  with   and  comforting  our 
mourning  people,  One,  whose  form  is  like  unto  that  of  the 
Son  of  God! 


V 


